


'til I save your heart (and I take your soul)

by blackkat



Series: Collision [1]
Category: Fullmetal Alchemist - All Media Types, Naruto
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Pre-Canon, Crossover, First Meetings, M/M, Pre-Slash, post-canon for Fullmetal Alchemist, pre-canon for Naruto
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-16
Updated: 2018-03-16
Packaged: 2019-03-31 22:56:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,578
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13985091
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/blackkat/pseuds/blackkat
Summary: Greed is definitely not where he used to be, and the fact that he’s alive was a big clue there. Not like there’s been any research done on what happens to a Homunculus when they die, but Greed had rather been expecting nonexistence.“Well, fuck,” he says, and hopes that Father’s end was as painful as Edward’s imagination could make it.





	'til I save your heart (and I take your soul)

The crackle of a fire close by wakes him, even though he  _knows_ there should be no waking at all. Greed jolts up, automatically hardening his skin in a rush of dark blue, lashes up and out with the memory of Father so close—

A thick black cable catches his arm before his claws can even score to the stranger’s face, slams it down into the earth, and Greed snarls out a curse, twists hard to get away but is dragged down by more cables until he can't move, can't even thrash. He shouts, his Ultimate Shield rippling across his body, but it doesn’t change the cables’ grip on him.

 _Wrath_ , he thinks, though it doesn’t quite feel right, lets his claws grow and flexes his hands, trying to get at the bonds.

“Shut the hell up,” the stranger tells him, unimpressed. “You're going to cost me my bounty.”

Greed laughs, rough and furious, but lets himself go still, tense and ready to move. _Ling_ , something whispers, but this isn’t the prince’s body, he can tell that in an instant.

“What?” he demands. “Who the fuck told you I have a bounty on me? They were lying, unless Wrath is a fucking _cockroach_ —”

“Not on _you_ ,” the man snaps. “But if you don’t shut your mouth I’ll drag you along to the bounty station just to see if they’ll pay for a corpse.”

Not him. Greed takes a breath, forces the Shield back underneath his skin. This guy isn’t after him, and Greed _died_. He of all people knows that’s hardly a permanent state, not for a Homunculus, but it’s _jarring_. Father cut him off, left him without a Philosopher’s Stone to live on, and he _accepted_ that. It was a good ending, after everything.

He closes his eyes, doesn’t let himself linger on thoughts of Ling and Edward, Darius and Heinkel. The shrimp beat Father; Greed has no doubt about that.

“Want to let me up?” he asks, and is glad it comes out a lazy drawl instead of a demand. “This stuff is a little creepy _._ ”

The man snorts, but a moment later it’s sliding away, slipping back under his long, concealing cloak. Strangely luminescent eyes study Greed for a long moment before he turns away, and Greed sits up, watching him cautiously. There are long black stitches showing through the slash in his mask that Greed must have left there, like someone tried to stitch his mouth shut, but Greed’s already pretty sure that he’s not chatty enough to warrant it.

“Who even are you?” he asks, dragging a hand over his hair. A familiar motion, and a familiar feeling—he blinks, glances down at himself. Definitely his original body, from before Father had dunked him in molten gold and melted him down for shits and giggles. That’s more than a little jarring as well, and Greed doesn’t quite understand how it happened, but he’s not going to argue.

The stranger gives Greed an incredulous, narrow-eyed look. “Ever bothered to open a Bingo Book?” he bites out.

“Nah,” Greed says, because it’s absolutely true. What the fuck is a Bingo Book? “Would that answer my question?”

The look he’s getting says that should be obvious. And really, this guy’s resting bitch face is a thing of beauty. Edward should take lessons. “Kakuzu of Taki,” the man tells him, and then turns away again. He cocks his head, apparently hearing something Greed can't, and then makes a sharp cutting motion in Greed’s face.

Hushing him, Greed assumes. How _cute_. He’d thought he was used to this after Darius and Heinkel, military to the core even if they did end up part animal, but it’s still a little irritating.

Even so, there’s enough happening to make up for it. Greed leans back on his hands, watching with amusement as Kakuzu slinks forward like a lion, eyes trained on the road beyond the line of trees sheltering them. There are a pair of men coming, dressed in uniforms Greed definitely hasn’t encountered before, and they look alert but not wary. This isn’t going to go in their favor, Greed thinks, letting his gaze slide from Kakuzu to the other two and then back again. Kakuzu isn’t making much of an effort to hide, but he’s definitely lying in wait.

 _Ambush_ , Greed thinks, remembers what Kakuzu said about claiming bounties, and assumes that’s what this is. For a moment, he considers intervening, taking the bounties for himself, but odds are Kakuzu would take offence at that, and Greed wants to know a little more about that ability of his before he tries to go up against it.

The memory of Wrath killing him over and over until his Philosopher’s Stone was nearly gone is just a bit too close, and Greed makes himself focus elsewhere. Picks, instead, the surge of motion as Kakuzu sends those strange threads out in a wave. Screams, and a moment of tangled battle before one of the bounties bolts. His partner is in the middle of Kakuzu’s threads, fire roaring around him in a neat bit of alchemy, but the runner is getting away while Kakuzu is occupied.

It’s easy enough to surge forward, Shield rippling into claws and sweeping up his arms, and Greed drops low, twists, comes up with a hard uppercut as the runner spins to confront him. There's a crack and then the man is dropping, boneless and probably still mostly alive. Greed shakes his fist out, contemplates the urge to help, and writes it off as being a little too used to fighting after all his time with Ling and Edward.

“That one’s not worth nearly as much,” Kakuzu says, and it sounds derisive, but when Greed turns his eyes are narrow, cautious as he studies Greed despite the limp body in his grip.

Greed chuckles, hooks his thumb at the body. “Still something, right?”

Kakuzu snorts, but that expression is agreement. His gaze lingers on the ouroboros mark on the back of Greed’s hand for a moment before he turns away, dumping his captive on the ground and pulling a scroll out of his sleeve. “You're not in the Bingo Book,” he says, and Greed huffs, rolling his eyes.

“You obsessed with that thing?” he asks. “I'm Greed. All you need to know.”

“…Greed,” Kakuzu repeats, casting another narrow look at him. Then his expression shades towards impatience, and he jerks his head at the scroll he’s unrolling. “Get him over here. I'm not going to waste two scrolls on assholes with low bounties.”

“Fair enough,” Greed says, amused, and hauls him over to dump him on top of the other. He watches Kakuzu make a hand gesture that’s definitely _not_ alchemy, and the bodies are gone in a puff of smoke, the scroll rolling itself up. “This isn’t Amestris, is it?”

“Earth Country,” Kakuzu corrects gruffly. “A lot of shinobi are deserting from the war. Easy pickings.”

Greed is definitely not where he used to be, and the fact that he’s alive was a big clue there. Not like there’s been any research done on what happens to a Homunculus when they die, but Greed had rather been expecting nonexistence.

“Well, fuck,” he says, and hopes that Father’s end was as painful as Edward’s imagination could make it.

“Not from around here?” Kakuzu asks, and that expression is sharp, assessing.

“Not even _close_ ,” Greed says, disgusted.

Kakuzu snorts, full of humor. “No wonder you don’t have a bounty on your head. With that trick of yours I was sure you’d pissed off _someone_ enough to end up wanted.”

“Yeah, well, they’ll have to do better than the last assholes who tried to off me,” Greed scoffs, and doesn’t bother to mention that those assholes actually succeeded. Twice. Greed really needs to step his game up.

Still, Kakuzu seems to accept that easily enough, nods and tucks the scroll away. “I'm a missing-nin,” he says bluntly. “But if you want to go after my bounty we’re going to find out just how much your skin can take.”

Greed thinks of Wrath’s swords driven through his body, the gold melting his flesh from his bones. Thinks of Father devouring his soul, and laughs, rough and amused. He’s had enough of testing his limits these last few years. That burning _want_ is still a part of him, but he’s lived with it for so long now that controlling it is simple. He wants to take Kakuzu’s bounties, but—

He can wait. He can wait and learn and watch, because there's some small memory of Edward and Ling, beautiful _desperately_ avaricious Ling with all his desires, practically crying over his death. Some small recollection of the weight of Bido’s body in his arms and Ling’s words about things becoming a part of his soul, unable to be washed clean or forgotten.

He had something there, and he wants it back. Wants that more than he’s ever wanted anything, more than he’s ever wanted _everything_.

“Easy pickings, huh?” he asks lightly, looking away, out across the rocky plain around them. A few scattered stands of snowy pines, some boulders, but not much else.

There's a long, long moment of silence, and then Kakuzu sighs like Greed is a headache. He shoves past him, stalking bac towards his small fire, and flings himself down. “Yeah,” he says, and it’s only a little grudging.

Greed laughs and follows him. He can work with that.


End file.
